The species of microalgae are very rich and diverse. Microalgae generally contains chloroplasts for photosynthesis. Studies have shown that microalgae's ability to fix CO₂ is 10 times that of land plants. Microalgae is widely used in renewable energy, biomedicine, food industry and environmental monitoring due to its rich metabolites and unique physiological characteristics. However, how to scale-up microalgae under the premise of controlling cost has become a difficult problem in the application. Therefore, we review the research progress of microalgae scale culture in the recent ten years from the biochemical characteristics of microalgae and its application in various fields, the three growth modes of microalgae, the application of photobioreactors and the harvesting of microalgae, with a view to providing a basis for the further development and utilization of microalgae.